Interview | Chairman-Elect Austen Angell

Interview with Chairman-Elect Austen Angell, IDSA

What was your first job?

My family moved from Australia to the United States when I was very young. A few years later, my father left Argon National Labs and both my parent began teaching at Purdue University in Indiana. So if you don't count paper routes and cutting lawns, my first go-to-work job was like every other Indiana kid, working as a corn de-tasseler—basically a bunch of kids riding around in the Indiana countryside on a bus, removing the pollen flowers from the tops of corn all day in the blazing sun while getting covered in cuts from the sharp edges of the corn-plant leaves. Three decades later, I was in change of a program redesigning the cockpit for the top of the line 9750 combine from John Deere. It was ironic, but I think having a true appreciation of how labor intensive the agriculture industry remains to this day gave me a better appreciation for technology’s ability to create meaningful change.
 
What would you do if you were not a designer?

I’d probably be a particle physicist; the work is rational and elegant, and it is much easier to do than being a designer.
 
What is the one thing you cannot do without each day?

Afternoon tea.

How can you make a living doing social design?

Could you call it living if you were doing otherwise? More importantly, all design work has a social component to it. Successful designers in this space don’t come with in an arbitrary agenda to impose on projects but a sincere desire to help their clients meaningfully connect to the values of their consumer/customers—and these values almost inevitably have a socially responsible component.  Build from there.

Can we design our way out of this recession?

We designed our way into it, so the answer is: of course. Money is still being spent, and many businesses are growing. If we cannot innovate ways to make money in a recession, then I worry about the depth of our advice on innovating when we’re out of a recession. There are the challenges inherent to change, but the key is to assess, adapt and grow. As an industry, it seems like we should be great at this, but it is about attitude—cynicism will kill you.

What is your hope for the industrial design profession?

There has always been talk about getting design to the table or into the boardroom, but it will never happen on broad scale until there are a significant number of designers as CEOs of large companies (outside the fashion industry). Bruce Nussbaum, H/IDSA recently discussed the need for businesses to raise their CQ (Creative Quotient). I see a need for designers to raise their business literacy and business acumen. Fortunately, we are in the beginning of the rise of “design entrepreneurialism,” and it is about time. Within corporations, designers are creating entrepreneurial style functional groups that serve the greater business goal. The topic of design entrepreneurialism will be a big part of the 2012 IDSA “Future” conference in Boston... and yes—that’s a plug.

Why did you become an industrial designer?

I was attracted by the big bucks and easy hours.

What does IDSA mean for you?

Nothing in and of itself. It is simply a legal vehicle protected by the first amendment of constitution of the United States, which grants us the right to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests. IDSA is an association, a means to an end, not an end in and of itself—however, I do care very deeply about design and the design community, and the IDSA staff and our potential as a community to positively affect the world. It is not a fluke that, even in challenging times for the association, the majority of design consultancy owners and corporate design heads remain members. It is the long game that makes people successful in business, and the design business is no different. However, the true strength of an association comes from the ability of the association to accurately reflect and promote the interests of all designers in the community - even the designers who aren’t members. If we reflect the grassroots creative energy of the people in this field and give them voice, (!!!) nothing could be more exciting or more energizing.

What is your favorite design book?

As a climber, I loved this book, Climbing: Expedition Planning by Clyde Soles and Phil Powers. As a designer, it is allegory. It’s impossible to read it and not improve your game.
 
What was the best business decision you ever made?

Realizing that design is a business philosophy and acting on that.
 
What was the craziest career decision you ever made?

The craziest decision I ever made in my career was hanging a Dallas Cowboys plaque in my office when I was working in Wisconsin. I’ve been a Cowboy fan since I was a kid, but it almost got me killed in a drive-by cheesing; an unsolved crime remains in the cold-case file.

How does your family cope with you being a designer?

My family copes with me being a designer by praying that one day all Design-Americans will enjoy the same rights and privileges that non-Design-Americans enjoy every day.


Austen takes office on May 1, 2012.